Private Jet Charter KPIs: Revenue Per Flight Hour, Empty Legs and the Taxes in Every Quote
By PlainSight — Insightful Actions · Updated October 2026 · ~5 min read
A charter aircraft earns for the hours it flies with passengers and costs money for every hour it flies without them. Repositioning flights, crew duty limits and maintenance windows decide how many of the hours on the schedule actually pay. The numbers below set revenue against the flying it took, aircraft by aircraft, so you can see which trips, routes and customers are worth the airplane's time.
Where your numbers live
Your scheduling or trip software can export trips or legs to CSV or Excel: one row per leg with the date, the aircraft, the leg type (passenger, repositioning, maintenance), the flight hours and the amount billed.
Keep taxes, catering and ground transport in their own columns. Customer names aren't needed.
The numbers that decide what each aircraft earns
1. Revenue per occupied flight hour, by aircraft
What good looks like: known for every aircraft, and above that aircraft's full cost per flight hour.
Divide each aircraft's charter revenue, before taxes and pass-throughs, by its hours flown with passengers. Then compare it with the aircraft's total cost per flight hour, fixed costs included. Quoted hourly rates vary widely by category and market, so your own figure, aircraft by aircraft, is the one to manage.
2. Empty legs: repositioning as a share of flying
What good looks like: falling, with every empty leg offered for sale before it flies.
Divide repositioning hours by total flight hours. A one-way trip often means flying home empty, and that hour costs nearly as much as a paid one. Transport & Environment's 2021 study of private aviation in Europe cited an industry estimate that about 41% of private flights are empty legs. Price one-way trips with the return in mind, and list empty legs where buyers can find them.
3. Hours flown per aircraft per month
What good looks like: steady through the year, with the slow weeks planned for.
Flight hours per aircraft per month, set against the hours it needs to fly to cover its fixed costs. Charter demand is seasonal, so put heavy maintenance into the slow weeks rather than the busy ones.
4. Taxes and pass-throughs, kept out of revenue
What good looks like: every quote showing the excise tax, the segment fees and the pass-throughs on their own lines.
Domestic charter is generally subject to the federal air transportation excise tax: 7.5% of the amount paid, plus a domestic segment fee of $5.30 per passenger per segment in 2026. Catering, ground transport, de-icing and international fees are pass-throughs. None of it is yours to keep, so keep it out of revenue per hour, and show it on every quote so the customer isn't surprised.
5. Cost per flight hour
What good looks like: updated monthly, so a rate change rests on today's costs.
Fuel, maintenance reserves, crew and insurance divided by flight hours, aircraft by aircraft. When fuel or parts move, your price per hour should move with them.
6. Who sells your hours
What good looks like: no single broker or account deciding your schedule.
The share of flight hours and revenue from each broker, card program and direct client. Brokers fill schedules, but they take a share and keep the relationship; direct clients rebook. Know how much of your year depends on each.
Warning signs worth acting on
- Repositioning above a third of your flying.
- Quotes that bury the excise tax in the hourly rate.
- An aircraft whose revenue per hour is below its cost per hour.
- One broker supplying most of the hours.
- Maintenance landing in peak weeks.
Make it a monthly rhythm
Monthly: revenue per occupied hour and hours flown by aircraft, the repositioning share, and the cost per hour. Then look at the worst few trips of the month and what they had in common.
Let PlainSight read your trip export
Upload a trip or leg export and PlainSight breaks revenue down by aircraft, flight type and month, shows how concentrated it is and what moved, and writes the next steps in plain English. Everything runs in your browser — your data never leaves your device.
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Frequently asked questions
- What file does PlainSight need from a charter operator?
- A trip or leg export with a date, the aircraft, the leg type and the amount, with taxes and pass-throughs in their own columns.
- Does the excise tax apply to every charter?
- Not to every one: it depends on the aircraft, the route and the kind of flight, and some small aircraft are exempt. Domestic charter is generally taxed at 7.5% plus the segment fee. Ask a tax adviser who knows aviation.
- Are empty legs worth selling cheaply?
- Usually. The flight happens either way, so any fare above the extra cost of carrying passengers (catering, fees, a little ground time) is money the leg would not otherwise earn.
- Is my data safe if I use PlainSight?
- Yes. Files are processed entirely in your browser and never uploaded. Optional AI features send only anonymized summary totals, never names or raw rows.
Sources
This guide is general information for charter operators, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Figures described as “typical” or “common” are survey results and rules of thumb, not standards — always read your own numbers in context.